Directory Profiles
Libby McFalls
Professor
Art, Department of
Education and Certifications
MFA, Printmaking, Cranbrook Academy of Art, MI, 2001
BFA, Fine Arts, Columbus College of Art & Design, OH, 1999
Biography
Elizabeth (Libby) McFalls is a Professor of Art and the Department of Art’s Art Foundation Coordinator at Columbus State University. She also holds the position of VP of Communications for Foundations of Art: Theory & Education. She received her MFA in Printmaking from Cranbrook Academy of Art (MI) and her BFA from Columbus College of Art and Design (OH). Raised in East Tennessee, Libby’s love of storytelling began during her childhood through attendance at the National Storytelling Festival. Her love and appreciation of oral storytelling increased over time, emphasized by the summers she and her sisters spent among extended family of five living generations. She creates nonlinear visual narratives that examine issues of loss and family. Her work explores moments, blurring the line between fact and fiction, life and death, humor and sorrow demonstrating the contradiction and complexity of life. Libby's work has been exhibited in national and international locations, including the Athica Athens Institute, South Bay Contemporary (Los Angeles), SoLA Gallery, Kai Lin Art Gallery, and Gallery 1 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Academic Areas
Art Foundations and Printmaking
Research Interests
Artist Statement
As a practicing artist, wife, and parent areas of my life continually overlap. Rather
than siloing myself into categories of “artist,” “mother,” “wife” - I revel in the
duality these structures create by blurring the line between these seemingly disparate
areas of work and home life. My studio practice involves our children in the creative
process and allows our daily experiences to be a driving force in my work.
I approach making in a collaborative spirit by responding to my life, time limitations,
successes, and failures in an intuitive fashion. My investigations examine my own
limits in the various roles of my life and become, at times, an admission of shortcomings
and strengths. Recently, I have begun collaborating with my children, by including
their drawings in my hybrid print collages. My work does not make direct reference
to the specifics of my family: rather, I think of the pieces as echoes of our time
together. Abstractions, symbols, and repeated images are used to create nonlinear
visual narratives that examine the contradiction and complexity of life.
To assist viewers with context, pieces often refer to ideas and images from current
social, political, and cultural issues. The role of modern motherhood and family,
from a woman’s perspective, has not been historically or widely represented in galleries
and museums. It is a difficult role to navigate: mother and artist. I am looking to
make work that does not merely reflect daily life, but also challenges the stereotype
of family life. I encourage conversation and thought that critically examines the
marginalization of women's role in society.
